Dumeril's, Y U SO PICKY?!

Well, my Dumeril's has proven to be quite the picky eater :rolleyes:

I got her on July 7th, she has eaten for me twice since then. She ate a f/t adult mouse both times. I tried giving her a f/t rat pup a few days ago...but she struck it, constricted, and didn't eat it. :/ She always seem sper interested in the mouse, but never strikes. Ohhh well.

I've tried feeding her once a week, but it seems she only wants to eat every two weeks. So, I just thickened her layer of aspen and now I have my fingers crossed that she will eat Wednesday for me.

She hasn't lost any weight, so maybe she's just being a little picky thing :rolleyes:

Does she have enough aspen to burrow into? I know that they like to burrow and just have their heads poking out bc theyre ambush predators.

Thickening the layer may help. Ive heard most dums are garbage disposals so hopefully you can get her eating!

Oh yeah all you see is her head poking out :P it's plenty thick, it has been.

I looked online and it says that young Dumeril's are very hard to get eating (mine is a year and a half, but only 132 grams because they grow soooo slowly) but once they get to eating, you can't stop them!!!

My girl is an eating beast. I would do live rat pups to get her going. Then her feeding response should become so strong she's strike at anything that moves if it smells like rat. ;) My girlie actually went for me last week because I took too long getting her rat ready. Lol! Good luck with your girl!

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Originally Posted by WarriorPrincess90

My girl is an eating beast. I would do live rat pups to get her going. Then her feeding response should become so strong she's strike at anything that moves if it smells like rat. ;) My girlie actually went for me last week because I took too long getting her rat ready. Lol! Good luck with your girl!

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Should I give her a live rat pup on her bedding? Sorry, I've only used paper towels as substrate so I have no experience with aspen :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Trackstrong83

Should I give her a live rat pup on her bedding? Sorry, I've only used paper towels as substrate so I have no experience with aspen :rolleyes:

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Why wouldnt you? She ate the f/t on aspen right?

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Why wouldnt you? She ate the f/t on aspen right?

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Haha true! It's just that I know sometimes rodents like to burrow, and was wondering if that would be an issue lol

I got my dumeril's late November of last year and she didn't start eating until about a month and a half ago.

When she started is when I finally caved and got her a live rat pup, and then just yesterday afternoon was the first time she took a f/t one.

- - - Updated - - -

Forgot to mention that she lost a grand total of 4 grams that entire time lol

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Originally Posted by Trackstrong83

Haha true! It's just that I know sometimes rodents like to burrow, and was wondering if that would be an issue lol

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Nah she should WAMMM him the first time he runs in front of her!

Don't know about dum's, but my BCI will eat any and everything.

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2

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Originally Posted by DrDooLittle

Don't know about dum's, but my BCI will eat any and everything.

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2

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Dum's will too!! Once they're older :rolleyes: lol
I've heard that they are very shy and picky eaters when they are small.

A trick I found helpful when mine was younger was to really bump up the humidity a couple of days before feeding. I would get the Aspen really wet about 2 days before and it would fog up his tub. Then it would dry out about a day after feeding. Don't know why it worked, but someone told me to try it and it did the trick. Also I covered the outside of his tub with duct tape to keep his vision down. They can be shy eaters when they are small. Now he is in a "big boy" tub with proper humidity and no duct tape and will eat anything I put in there!

One thing I've learned with my Dumerils is when I think she should eat and when she knows to eat are two completely different things. Remember, they have a very slow metabolism. The fact yours has eaten twice in a month should be encouraging.

The last time mine ate was on 6/23. This was a month before she went into blue! Just recently she shed on 7/30. Now I'm waiting for the tell tale signs of her being hungry (defecated and burrowed for a day or two) before I attempt another feed.